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home » festivals » All Tomorrow's Parties » All Tomorrows Parties - The Fans Strike Back 2009
sci-fi inspired Devo headline opening night of ATPAll Tomorrows Parties - The Fans Strike Back 2009 ReviewThursday 14th May 2009 One of the bands playing this year's event described the festival as an "alternative festival of flannel shirts and beards". Which I certainly can't argue with; with these items seeming to be the fashion accessories needed to be seen with. This festival, this first of three held at the venue this year, saw the fan's 'taking control', voting on bands which they would like to appear, with ATP choosing the rest of the bands themselves, resulting in a line-up which saw bands such as Spiritualized, Beirut and Devo all taking to the stage. Set across three stage; the main Pavilion stage, set inside the main area, surrounded by Burger King's and slot machines; the Centre Stage, which is the venue usually used by the infamous 'red coats' who provide entertainment for the happy campers; and the much smaller Reds Bar. The first day of the event saw new wave stars Devo headline the main stage, bringing along with them a sci-fi inspired stage set-up and dance moves along with their 31 year old back catalogue of music. Playing hits from albums such as Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! and the 1980 album Freedom of Choice, including the greatly received Whip It, the band also found time to debut songs from their new album, such as Don’t Shoot (I'm A Man), due out later this year. Earlier on the same stage, performances from New York folk-rockers Jeffrey Lewis >& The Junkyard M83, aka Anthony Gonzalez, offers a selection of songs from his three albums, including his most recent Saturdays = Youth, with songs such as Couleurs and Don't Save Us From the Flames really showing what a talented live performer and song writer he is, resulting, in my opinion, in the best performance of the festival. Over on the centre stage electronic rockers, Health, deliver a poor performance with more effort going into screaming into the microphone than playing their instruments, a sentiment shared by Andrew WK who follows on from Health, who, performing solo, plays on a keyboard over a backing track, who simply bashes out un-recognisable chords whilst singing along to songs such as Party Hard. Andrew WK does manage to get the crowd going, regularly asking the crowd to sing along, but his 'solo' performance could do with a lot of work in my opinion. Later in the day, New Zealand native Liam Finn provides a solid performance, playing a set including recent single Second Chance, taking the festival into the late evening offering a performance filled with soothing vocals and pop melodies. review by Anthony Hetherington photos by Anthony Hetherington
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